When I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (published 1967) half a decade ago, I didn’t understand it, but I loved every bit of it. As I struggled for months through the saga (part of which I read in the original Spanish, part in translation by Gregory Rabassa), I found myself
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (published 2006) tells the story of the Nigerian Civil War, when the minority, repressed Igbos in Southeastern Nigeria established the independent republic of Biafra. My understanding of the war comes from my reading of the novel, but I did also reference Wikipedia. (Adichie mentions in an
According to my Harmon and Holman A Handbook to Literature, “romance” has had a special meaning in terms of literature since the beginning of the novel. As opposed to a “novel,” a term which suggested realistic manners and society, a “romance” was more unlikely to happen in reality. In common usage, [romance] refers to works
Brigham Young: American Moses (by Leonard Arrington, first published in 1985) captures the unusual personality and able leadership of the controversial second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church). Although I did not find Mr. Arrington’s text to be fascinating, the stories about Brigham Young were noteworthy, and I
According to the tradition of the Dinka, the people who live in southern Sudan, after God created the world and the first man (a Dinka), he gave the first man a choice. “You can have either these cattle, as my gift to you, or you can have the What,” he said. The Dinka chose the
Ginko Ogino was just sixteen when her mother and older sister arranged her marriage, as was custom in nineteenth-century Japan. When she returned home violently ill three years later, overcome with fever and infection due to gonorrhea, her family was shamed. Her story begins here, though, for during her embarrassing treatment in the male-dominated hospital,
Last year, I read Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin, and I really enjoyed it. I suggested it to my book club, and I was delighted it when it was selected as this month’s read! I reread it last week and searched for some discussion questions online. To my surprise, I couldn’t find any!
It was last November that my son, then aged 2 years and 1 month, started showing an interest in being toilet trained. At a few times in the past year he has had days of “underwear only” with moderate success. Well, just before his third birthday, which was last week, he went from the “training”
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (1979) is about Nigerian tradition versus a modern and Western lifestyle, but it’s also about a woman coming to terms with her role as woman and a mother. I found myself viewing the main character, Nnu Ego, with conflicting emotions throughout the novel. From a modern, feminist perspective,
In Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979), a modern black woman’s ancestors haunt her, calling her back to them for assistance. Dana comes to terms with her own family’s history and comes to understand firsthand just what her predecessors dealt with. Kindred is not a pleasant story. After all, it deals with slavery and the question
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (first published 1973) is a celebration of story-telling. It is a story in a story in a story. William Goldman tells the story of his father telling him a story of an abridged story by S. Morgenstern, which has all sorts of political side-agendas for Morgenstern’s day. There are
Today opens the 2010 Cybils nomination process. If you don’t know, the Cybils are the Children’s and Young Adult Blogger’s Literary Awards. I didn’t participate last year or even follow it, but this year I intend to do just that! My focus will be on fiction and non-fiction picture books. I am not, at this
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